Ok guys, this chapter is called:
"The decent into Haines"
For those of you who like this sort of stuff, you can plug these coordinates into your fave map app and it should pull up the section of Haines Highway that is going to be discussed here today.
59.454767,-136.366655
Like I said, from Haines Junction we only had to do 150 more miles and we would drive onto the ferry or if need be, I could push the trucks onto the boat if I had to, and I would be just as happy.
It is a bright a beautiful day, about noon-ish when we left with full tanks of gas.
Now, before we had left a friend of mine that I never got to work with but always wanted to told me about this particular part of the drive. He described the road as being very beautiful during the time of year we were going through. How you start at the top of the pass and the valley of Haines just opens up as you decend the grade to the border.
The weather for us provided just such a setting for Trish and I, and man I was looking forward to it !!
It was the last leg of three that would get us home and complete this adventure.
If you zoom in or out enough on your map you will see where the trees start North and West of the location I provided you. This is also where, in my mind the grade began. If they have signs there, like we do in the US saying the grade % and for how long....I surely missed seeing them.
If they are not there, then I have every faith that the Canadian Dept of Trans has them on order.
If you add to that the ever constant mental math of converting kilometers to miles, well you have a pretty full brain.
Simple conversion I use is 70 kph = half of 70 is 35 + 7 move the (assumed) decimal to the left on the original number to get the 7.
Roughly 70 kph = 42 mph.
Well........
I wasnt doing 70 or 42 when I hit that sign at the top of the grade, and it seemed like before I could get it slowed even that far, I was well into the slope down.
Though we were scooting along about 5-10 mph faster than I really wanted to be going, the roads were clear-dry-well maintained and mostly free of any traffic from either direction.
So there were some white knuckle driven miles there, but nothing like what happend next.
Seems like right after the S curves on the road (you can see it on the map) we turned a curve and saw Reduced Speed 30 kph.
We all know what is coming next so, I down shift into 3rd and all hell breaks loose !!!
The engine
was doing the usual small pops and bangs it does when riding compression on that poor little 327 of mine with the load we had, but this time it escalated into thunderous booms that scared the snot out of both of us. Like going from a .22 to a .45 pistol kind of booms.
In the time it took you to read that just now, we in the truck came to another bend in the road to see the sign:
Canadian Border 300 Meters
Prepare to Stop
I cannot down shift into 2nd, it just wont go.
I am still doing between 40 and 50 mph when we turn the last bend, and there is the border check point!!
I am standing on the brakes, pulling up with steering wheel the engine is screaming and exploding with conpression, Trish is a pasty smear squished into the p-side corner of the cab, and I think I started to sweat a little too.
There are only 3 lanes.
Two for travelers and a gated access lane.
The one lane next to the guard shack/check point had a car in it.
The center lane was not only clear, but the gate arm was up too.
Simultaneous to seeing this sight the truck lets out a boom like a shotgun under the hood and all things electrical ceased to exist in our little....speeding....run away world.
We shot thru like a rocket sled on rails with no sign or intention of stopping.
150 meters past the check point there is a turn out to some apartments (who lives between countries?) I pull in there and before we ramp up and out of the drive way, I finally get the rig stopped.
Trish is asking me what the hell just happened, I am trying to tell her I know as much as she does at this time, while I am keeping an eye on the rear view mirror. I fully expected to see a posse of RCMPs rushing us with weapons out, ordering us to get out and lie on our faces !!
A few moments later, and nothing.
No angry Canadian Authorities, no response from the ignition switch, Voltsmeter, nothing.
Electrically the truck it dead.
We dismount the vehicle and I start checking stuff; drop to the ground looking for a murder sized pool of fluid = nothing.
Everything up under the truck was dry and the driveline was intact.
Rear brakes are smoking like uncle Bob used to; popped the hood, engine looks fine all pieces and parts are there to include fan belts and hoses. No pistons hanging out the side of the engine like little zombie arms...cool.
Trish asks if we are going to need roadside assistance.
Sadly I admit we may, so she heads up to the border to make the call, poor girl.
We had full coverage on the rig, so a quick call to our provider went like this for my wife:
"We are going to need a tow truck"
The nice lady at the insurance desk asks for our policy #, looks up our account and says "I am sorry but that vehicle is not listed on any policy you have with us."
Trish starts to freak out because she had called and put it on full coverage a week prior to us leaving. With tension, and a few other things creeping into her voice she starts to vent. Until she hears across the phone "Oh here it is, your policy has a page 2."
Then it was all "No problems, where are you?"
"We are on the Haines Highway, between Canada and the US, just past the Canadian Check Point."
"Ok, what city is that in ma'am" (At this point I dont think Trish was prepared for that)
"You dont understand, I am between countries, I just need a tow truck to come up from Haines (40 miles) and get us."
The young lady connects her to a tow service and Trish is somewhat appeased, until she is informed that the insurance provider connected her to a tow back in Haines Junction, 85 miles back the way we just came, and our ferry leaves tomorrow!
Frustrated she ends that call, and the fine folk in the guard shack gave her the number to THE ONLY TOW TRUCK in the township of Haines.
Meanwhile I am going over the truck like a DEA agent.
Nothing, and exactly that, nothing electrical works. No signs of over heated wiring...actually by this time the brakes have stopped smoking, so there are no clue giving signs at all.
Trish returns.
"I got ahold of the only Tow in Haines." she says.
"Cool !!" I chime, trying not to show how worried I am...
"Yeah....he wants $700 to tow us into Haines."
................................................ W T F !?............................................
While stewing over this new information, I plop myself behind the steering wheel, and just for giggles I turn the ignition switch.
The Voltsmeter needle jumped !!
With an epiphiany dawning on me, I pop the hood on the Stepside and yank out the battery. A quick connect to the tow truck, and VROOOOOOOOM !! the old boy fires up just like it always has. ~clue #3~
I hooked it back to its own battery, replaced the one in the stepside, and without a look back we boogied our way through the American Border and on into Haines without incident. The truck started and ran like a champ the rest of the time in Alaska.
We got our hotel room, and a well deserved good nights sleep !!
This is the hotel parking lot:
Haines is such a beautiful little town. If I had to live in Alaska, I think Haines would be it.
